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MEMO 

TO: Mound Work Group 

FROM: Joseph Fitzgerald, SC&A 

DATE: April 19, 2012 

SUBJECT: Technical Conference Call, April 6, 2012: Clarification of Documentation 

Received by SC&A from NIOSH Regarding Ventilation of Radon in SW/R 

Buildings 

PARTICIPANTS: 

NIOSH: Jim Neton, Brant Ulsh 

ORAUT: Karin Jessen, Sam Chu, Mel Chew 

ABRWH: Josie Beach, Paul Ziemer 

SC&A: Joe Fitzgerald, John Stiver, Joe Porrovecchio, Aris Papadopoulos 

HHS: Jenny Lin 

BACKGROUND: A conference call was requested by SC&A with NIOSH regarding materials 

provided to the Work Group and SC&A intended to clarify historic HVAC system design 

features and air flow patterns in R/SW buildings (including a paper by Sam Chu dated February 

24, 2012, and various HVAC drawings for R and SW (1948–1984). SC&A had questions 

intended to clarify these materials in advance of an upcoming Work Group meeting on April 10, 

2012. 

As an introduction, Joe Fitzgerald provided some background regarding the purpose of the call 

and Joe Porrovecchio provided additional perspectives on R Building ventilation issues gleaned 

from an interview conducted the day before with [redacted], a former HVAC maintenance 

manager at Mound. In the latter, Joe outlined some key points made by Mr. [redacted]: 

 The ventilation system operated 24/7, guided by use of differential gauges for each room, 

with filters changed regularly on the supply air side. 

 Exhaust fans had HEPA filters, which were changed out less frequently. 

 Air flow was maintained routinely with each room monitored to its design pressure. 

 The buildings were maintained at negative pressure to the outside, and each room was 

maintained at negative pressure (with some exceptions) to the corridors; in general, the 

movement of air was to the exhaust systems. 

 The R Building north-south corridors were numbered: 2, 5, and 3 from west to east, 

respectively. Corridor 2 was the boundary between the “hot” and “cold” sides of 

R Building; the area further east of that corridor (east of corridor 5) was “very cold.” 

 The room R-128 alpha readings (as reported in the NIOSH October 2011 white paper) 

appear to have been transient; i.e., an exception to this overall ventilation history. 
Memo to the Mound Work Group 2 SC&A – April 19, 2012 

NOTICE: This report has been reviewed for Privacy Act information and has been cleared for distribution. 

However, this report is pre-decisional and has not been reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health for factual accuracy or applicability within the requirements of 42 CFR 82. 

As observed by Joe, this interview was very helpful in enabling SC&A to understand the 

practical functioning of the ventilation systems in R and SW, and did clarify most of the specific 

questions that were the original reason for this technical call (hence, the fewer questions and 

shorter call). 

Q – Whether a documented history exists of the “capping” of duct penetrations between SW and 

R buildings; is there a time frame for this capping? 

A – NIOSH does not have specific documentation on that, but the date of the drawing showing 

the capping is November 16, 1960. In any case, it is irrelevant, because all the penetrations are 

in tritium areas of the R building, which are already included in the current SEC. 

Q – Is there better building diagrams showing the spatial relationships between the tunnel, the 

cave, and the various rooms in R and SW buildings? 

A – The collection of R/SW building drawings has been reviewed three times in response to 

evolving requests on this issue from the Mound Work Group/SC&A. NIOSH has captured all 

drawings to be relevant to this issue, and sees no value in revisiting the drawing collection. All 

the drawings we captured were scanned and placed in the SRDB. In addition, hardcopies have 

been provided to SC&A. Multiple drawings show the location of the tunnel and SW-19, as 

described in NIOSH’s October 2011 report. [Josie Beach requested that a copy of these 

diagrams be made available for participants to review at the upcoming Work Group meeting; 

SC&A will bring its copies that NIOSH provided].